*We are working on the completion of an interactive map which will feature detailed information on each of the submitted sites.

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Spotlighting Best Practices in America's Cities, Vol. 1 (Preview)

City of Buffalo, New York-

LakesideCommercePark and UnionShip Canal

The closing of the Hanna steel plant in south Buffalo in 1982 signaled the end of a chapter in the city's economic history, which for more than a half-century was dominated by steel production. But since 2001, a project at the former Hanna site has been setting the stage for a new economic future for Buffalo. A vast redevelopment is converting 113 acres of land including the abandoned Hanna plant, an adjacent shipping canal, a former railroad yard, and a 19-acre disposal site into the BuffaloLakesideCommercePark. In the process, the City is cleaning up contaminated soil; recycling available infrastructure; luring developers away from greenfield sites and into the urban community; boosting city commerce, jobs, and the local tax base; and eliminating blight.

City of Miami, Florida-

Villa Patricia, in little Haiti, north of downtown Miami

In the 1980s and 1990s, Little Haiti was one of the poorest areas in Miami and was known for its crime and drug trade. Some of the area violent past still exists today, however the area is experiencing a cultural renaissance and the city is investing in its future.Villa Patricia, previously a vacant and dilapidated warehouse property in a main corridor of the city of Miami, which significantly contributed to slum and blight. The Villa Patricia project was prime for redevelopment as the location had ready access to public transportation and is located close to downtown and acts as a catalyst of redevelopment for the area to upgrade the business corridor. The site is located close to the New Little Haiti Cultural Campus and SoccerPark which added to the project redevelopment value.

Neptune and Son/Piman Bouk Restaurant and Beauty Shop

Through the years, the community has changed from agricultural to residential, from middle class to lower class and middle class again. Part of this change was driven by immigrants from Haiti and the significant unrest on the island in the early 80 that found it a way to Miami, and soon the area was called "Little Haiti, (La Petite Haiti). The area is undergoing a cultural renaissance, due in large part to the development of the Little Haiti Cultural Center, SoccerPark and proposed redevelopment of the Caribbean Marketplace. The City of Miami and original property purchaser Mr. Neptune worked on the property after Mr. Neptune purchased the property in 1999 for $30,000 cash with no financing, and unknowingly he acquiring the site with existing contamination from an adjacent dry cleaner. Across the street from what became the Piman Bouk restaurant on the redeveloped site is the recently renovated Caribbean Market Place, and the recently completed Little Haiti Cultural campus and soccer park with an investment of over $40 Million from the City of Miami.

City of Washington, District of Columbia-

WashingtonNationalsPark

In 2004, the D.C. city council agreed to build the Nationals a new park to entice the Expos from Montreal. The city council insisted that it be the first major sports stadium to get the US Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating. The points-based system was designed to limit the environmental impact of commercial office buildings, not outdoor ballparks, but DC Mayor Anthony Williams was willing to put the effort forth. By recycling 5,500 tons of construction waste, installing a state-of-the-art water-filtration system and placing the stadium close to public transportation on what used to be the site of a contaminated Brownfield; the city was able to get the certification with less than a 2 percent hike in construction costs. When President Bush threw out the first pitch, and the crowd sat focused on whether the home team would deliver a performance worth a $611 million stadium and a national TV audience. It's unlikely anyone noted the high-efficiency bulbs in the field lights, or realized that 95 percent of the stadium's steel was recycled, or even that the low-flow toilets would save millions of gallons of water each season. Most of what makes NationalsPark the country's first green professional-sports stadium doesn't look any different from what you'd find at other ballparks, which is one reason its recent certification by the U.S. Green Building Council is so impressive.

(If Your City Is Interested in Showcasing a finished Redevelopment please contact us at 202-861-6775 p or email Judy Sheahan @ jsheahan@usmayors.org)

Register for EPA's 2011 Brownfield's Meeting In Philadelphia by visiting the website at www.brownfields2011.org